Thoughts on the failure of the EU Constitution to be ratified by the French

I choose to revise and extend my remarks:

Taleena expresses herself on the stumbles on the road to European Unification:

I have been watching the march to European Unification with an uncomprehending disbelief. The premise seems nice enough, being bound by common goals and needs a partnership to strengthen nations put into writ. The execution turning into a welter of over regulation and bureaucracy that replaces national identity with the faceless form.

If in fact the French and Dutch people reject the bloated nightmare of the EU Constitutional Treaty, how could a governing body ignore them? "It is ok little ducklings," croons Chirac and his cronies, "You must not be allowed to speak. Let us tell you what you really want." If that is what indeed happens the people will not need this they will need the American Method.

For a nation in the EU to rise up in it's hind legs and try "The American Method" (a code word for bloody revolution), several conditions would first be necessary. The first of these would be a re-embracing of the Enlightenment principal that the rights of the individual are building block of human affairs. Or, as it is so eloquently stated, "...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed."

I was so much provoked that I downloaded the European constitution to compare it with the Constitution of the United States. Sigh. I wonder how old one must be to have been required as a child to memorise the Preamble to the US Constitution?

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

52 words beginning with the statement declaring upon whose authority this constitution is based, "We the People."

So let's look at the first 171 words of the European constitution;

"HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF DENMARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF SPAIN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE GRAND DUKE OF LUXEMBOURG, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY, THE PRESIDENT OF MALTA, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS, THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND, THE PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA, THE PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND, THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND..."

All titles of authority. Forgive the capitals, but they are capped in the original. Almost worse, the vague preamble is concluded with a list of the names of the prime and foreign ministers who signed off on this document.

Now I'm sure that these are all fine people, but, while I enjoy the royalist fantasies of Baroness Orczy and David Webber, I am bone-deep a republican. Were I ever to meet any of these people I would find myself standing, with Chauvelin, ill-clad, and refusing to bow.

Taleena replied:

You are making the assumption that I think Europeans have the gumption and moral clarity to use the American Method, that is in question. I do think that the need it though.

I just love a post that uses the word "gumption." Pure Americana.

And now The Telegraph posts its answer to the Euro constitution, a constitution for a Commonwealth.

An excerpt:

I The European Commonwealth shall be an association of parliamentary democracies that collaborate one with another for mutual benefit.

II The jurisdiction of common European institutions shall be confined to cross-border matters: that is, fields of policy where the actions of one Member State impact directly upon the internal affairs of another. These include: commerce between Member States (but not trade with Third Countries); cross-border environmental pollution; and the maintenance of a free market in goods, services, people and capital.

III For the avoidance of doubt, and as a defence against creative interpretation by European judges, a list of national Reserve Powers shall be drawn up in the Member States' constitutions (or by parliamentary statute in the United Kingdom). Such a list shall include: foreign affairs, defence, asylum and immigration, transport, energy, the powers of regional and local government, agriculture, fisheries, industry, social and employment policy, taxation, health, education, justice and home affairs. In these areas, the supremacy of national parliamentary and legal systems shall be guaranteed.

Common European policies shall come into effect only following a specific implementing decision by the national authorities.

IV Member States shall be free, if they wish, to adopt common policies in these areas. Such initiatives may happen bilaterally or multilaterally, without prejudice to the non-participating members.

While there is more, there is not too much. Nice, terse, and most importantly, it exists to state goals and restrict the power of the government.

Almost American.